From left: Tiffany Hwang, 11, Tsen Hwang, Don Denton, Rodney Bice and Marc Sheff are opposed to the development of land behind their neighborhood in Richardson and would like the prairie to be preserved.

RICHARDSON — A request to turn 13.6 acres of virgin land near Telecom Parkway into a subdivision has become a thorny zoning case for this city.

Neighbors and environmentalists say the property north of Springbranch Drive near the Plano border includes dwindling native prairie that needs preservation. But the tract has been zoned for industrial use since the 1970s, and officials say the city has no funds to buy it for parkland.

The Richardson City Council is expected to review the rezoning request on April 28. The City Plan Commission recommended the development in a 5-2 vote. Several commissioners said a neighborhood would be better for that land than warehouses in the absence of another option.

“I see all the passion,” Commissioner Marilyn Frederick said at a March meeting. “On the other side, to me, this is upzoning. I don’t know any homeowner who would consciously want to take the gamble of a commercial, manufacturing or church-use property and accept that when they could possibly have some residential.”

Residents of the Woods of Spring Creek worry that a new neighborhood next door will destroy the meadow and extinguish several springs that feed nearby Beck Creek.

RJ Taylor, conservation director for Connemara Conservancy, which opposes the development, said the land is located on blackland prairie.

Traits of this ecosystem include rich soil and tall grass with deep roots that help the ground soak up water. It shelters bobcats, coyotes, skunks, songbirds and other wild animals. Statewide, Texas Parks and Wildlife has mapped about 8,000 acres of remaining blackland prairie, a small portion of the original 15.8 million acres.

The zoning case illustrates the dilemma for city officials caught between the wishes of private landowners and calls from residents and others to save shrinking open space. About 93 percent of Richardson is built out.

“Quite a few of us were conflicted and very much considering that issue,” commission chairman Barry Hand said. “But again, at the end of the day, we’re charged to analyze the case that’s in front of us: Is this an appropriate use of land?”

The real estate company is Douglas Properties, which is also planning a neighborhood on 45.8 acres in Plano across the Richardson property. Both pieces of land are owned by Flextronics, a supply-chain solutions company. The plots are separated by power lines as well as natural gas, jet fuel and sewer lines.

Douglas Properties has met resistance in Plano, but not for environmental reasons. The Planning and Zoning Commission denied recommending a change in zoning because the land is in an area designated as a research and technology district. Plano City Council will consider the case April 14.

Beck Creek Estates would include 15 residential lots in Richardson and 131 in Plano. Douglas Properties is offering to donate a parcel on the Plano side for a new elementary school in Plano ISD. It also plans to leave about a quarter of the Richardson site, which partially sits on a flood plain, as open space.

It’s not enough to satisfy neighbors or Connemara Conservancy.

“The stuff that’s most important to protect is on land that he could develop on,” Taylor said.

Rodney Bice, whose home backs up to the vacant land, said many neighbors like to go on walks to the prairie. He moved to the neighborhood in the fall and then learned about the land’s ecological value.

“I’m not really a tree hugger, but it did make me want to help preserve that,” Bice said.

“I find it very difficult to reconcile that passion for that piece of land from folks who are probably living on a house that was built on that same type of property,” he said.

The comment struck a nerve with Eric Reed and some of his neighbors.

“It’s like saying someone can’t be opposed to slavery if their ancestors owned slaves,” he said.

Reed, who is an attorney, sent a letter to Flextronics in late March asking if it would be interested in donating the land or selling it to the neighbors and conservation partners. He said Flextronics hasn’t responded. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.

The parcels that make up the Richardson side of Beck Creek Estates had a combined assessed value of $1.2 million last year, according to property records.

One option for the cities of Plano and Richardson to get money to buy the land is through Collin County’s Project Funding Assistance Program, neighbors said. The county can fund up to 50 percent of a park or open-space project.

Jeff Durham, who manages open space for the county, said the Commissioners Court will soon consider $2.2 million for the 2014 program. Application approval rates vary, and not all eligible applications get funding, Durham said.

Another alternative would be for Flextronics to keep the land and receive tax benefits through a conservation easement, Reed said.

The Richardson council will need a supermajority vote to approve the development because of the amount of opposition from the closest neighbors, city officials said.

In the meantime, the meadow will see at least one more spring. The cinnamon-colored prairie grass rustled in the breeze on a recent afternoon. Yellow and purple wildflowers were popping up among clumps of green.

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